Cola : Cost of Living Adjustment
Here we have one of the most ornately beautiful-sounding albums of the year thus far, with lyrical content that is often bleaker than what you’d find on a black-metal record. Finding the sweet spot between nascent (and even naive) post-punk of the ‘80s and the newest, melodic permutation of the sound, Cost of Living Adjustment or C.O.L.A. is a record that could only be made with two previous efforts already in the can.
It’s a bold move to endow your band with a name that references jargon used in commerce and bureaucratic affairs. Government Issue, American Standards, Big Business, Marginal Man—hell, there was even a short-lived hardcore band named Capital Gain. In assuming a mundane moniker, a band raises the stakes two-fold in trying to attract a fanbase. But in such cases, there had better be some chunks of cookie dough lodged in the ice cream, otherwise it’s just vanilla.
It appeared that Montreal’s post-punk squad Cola tried to pull a fast one when they formed in 2020. After all, properly capitalizing all the letters in their name would’ve clearly indicated it was an acronym and not a synonym for soda—which, in all fairness, would’ve been equally bland. On this, their third record, the trio finally come clean by confirming through its title that their handle is, in fact, a phrase used in the titillating field of economics and employment contracts.
With all that said, the third stab Cola take at crafting a long-player is their strongest one yet. From the breezy “Forced Position” to the punchy “Havelock Country” to the heavenly harmonic “Much of a Muchness” to the whimsical “Conflagration Mindset” to “Skywriter’s Sigh”—on which the band seems resigned to but not deterred by the harsh reality addressed throughout the record—Cola carve out a new strain of post-punk. Despite occasional resemblances to Gang of Four, Protomartyr and a litany of genre bands in between, Cola have found themselves on this record: At least while making music, they are not filled with rage; nor are they so jaded that detaching themselves from their art is the only way for them to create and perform it.
On Cost of Living Adjustment, the band has never sounded more direct and less pretentious. Think of the transition as the post-punk version of Ghost’s Papa Emeritus finally giving up the game and revealing his true identity. In both cases, one can tell just by listening to the bands’ music they made after fessing up that they no longer carry a hefty weight on their shoulders and can be free to be themselves and let their artistic inclinations flow freely without the distraction of a facade.
In an essay that Mexican poet Octavio Paz wrote in 1950, he opined that the country’s upper class masks themselves metaphorically so as to get away with wrongdoing. We now live in an era when, at least not since the days of Roman and Greek excess, the ultra-rich don’t even bother to hide their corrupt activities. Gone are the days when they at least attempted to appease common folk with excuses and apologies for their ravenous behavior and pillaging of the country’s wealth—even if such platitudes were as hollow as the hope for a reduction in economic inequality in our lifetimes.
If all of the above sounds tangential or even digressive, it ain’t. These are not the ramblings of a writer lapping up the opportunity to stand on a soapbox; they’re almost exactly what Cola are addressing on their third album, from start to finish. Vocalist/guitarist Tim Darcy, bassist Ben Stidworthy and percussionist Evan Cartwright have all but said outright that this record is about the promise of socialism, or at least the option of giving it a spin, as more and more North Americans realize that late-stage capitalism is largely responsible for the decay of the continent and the degradation of most people’s lives.
Cost of living adjustments in worker income are intended to ensure that the middle class can maintain a healthy and pleasant lifestyle while corporations raid the U.S. (and Canada, apparently) of their wealth and resources. Year after year, COLA becomes more and more of a joke. All the while, Cola’s message and music are growing in strength and demanding—justly—to be taken seriously.
Label: Fire Talk
Year: 2026
Similar Albums:
Cola : Cost of Living Adjustment
Note: When you buy something through our affiliate links, Treble receives a commission. All albums we cover are chosen by our editors and contributors.
